Pneumatic lint clearer for warping machines



M. F. CUMMINGS ET AL PNEUMATIC LINT CLEARER FOR WARPING MACHINES Dec. 2, 1924. v l ,5 1 7,961

Filed March 1, 1924 2 Sheets-Shea; l

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lnveni'orsg 1 Q FPQ ASOM Patented Dec. 2, .1924.

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MARSHALL F. CUMMINGS, OF NASHUA, NEW HAMPSHIRE, AND NATHAN G. LAI'HAM,

OF OHELMSFORD, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNORS TO T. ENTWISTLE COMPANY, O

LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

PNEUMATIC LIN! OLEABER FOR-WAR-IPING' MACHINES.

Application filled March 1, 1924. Serial No. 696,188.

I '0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, MARsHALL F. CUM- MINGS and NATHAN G. LAPHAM, citizens of the United States, residing at Nashua, in the 5 county of Hillsborough, State -of New Hampshire, and at Chelmsford, county of Middlesex, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Pneumatic Lint Clear- 1 ers for Warping Machines, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

The invention is applicable to warping machines, looms and the like, and has relation to the class of devices or appliances which have been devised for employment in such machines to effect the removal of the lint that separates from the yarns or threads that are operated upon therein.

The invention is more especially an improvement upon the pneumatic lint-clearer devices that are .shown and described in former United States Letters Patent No. 1,339,182 granted under date of May 4, 1920, and No. 1,447,418 granted under date of March 6, 1923.

The invention has,.for itsdgeneral hobject to provide improved lint-clearer devices of simpler and less expensive design and construction than prior devices of this nature,

designed for use in connection with warping machines, looms, and other machines in which a series of traveling yarns or threads arranged side by side in the manner of a 36 warp are operated upon. A special object of the invention is to enable a manual shift of the blowerfrom the position occupied by.

it 'at a given moment, as for instance during stoppage of the machine, to be eflected so as 40 to}, facilitate access to yarns or threads immediately below the blower while in the said position. The travelling blower of lintclearer devices embodying the present invention is traversed by an endless belt, pref- 46 erably disposed above the series of yarns or threads. In the more completefembodiment of .the features of the invention, the blower is combined with the said belt b connecting means permitting shift of the lower inde- 50 pendently of the belt, and relative to the latter, so as to remove the blower from over the yarns or threads, which may be directly under it, more particularly when the mechanism stands at rest.

The drawings represent an illustrative embodiment of the invention in connection with a warping machine.

In the drawings,--

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the said warping machine and illustrative embodiment.

Fig. 2 is a view in vertical section in the plane of the dotted line 22 of F ig. 1.

Fig, 3 is a view in section on the dotted lines 3-3 of Fig. 1, with portions broken away, showing on a larger scale than Figs. 1 and 2 the fan-blower and the immediately associated therewith.

Fig. 4 is a front view on a larger scale, partly sectional, showing the fan-blower and its oscillating and traversing mechanisms.

Fig. 5 is a partly sectional detail view 'showmg a modified driving arrangement.

' Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings represent a typical warping machine, and the preferred.

arrangement of the improved lint-clearer devices in connection therewith.

In Fig. 2 yarns or threads 1 are repre-' sented as extending (from a warper-creel,

parts more clearer devices is shown applied and arranged to operate to blow away lint which separates from the yarns or threads during their passage from rear to front in the machine,'and so as .to keep the back and front combs, drop-wires, and other parts adjacent the drop-wires, clear and free from lint.

In this embodiment of the invention suitable stands or uprights 10, 10, erected above the bed of the warping machine support a track 11, which in practice may be of any construction suitablefor the form of carriage or trolley employed. Upon said track I travels a carriage or trolley 12, Figs. 3 and 4, which in practice may be of any suitable construction and design. The combination shown clearly in Figs. 3 and 4 comprises a track inthe shape of an inverted U, with the lower edges of the sides inturned in the "form of curved flanges, and a carriage or trolley provided with pairs of wheels or rollers 120,

120, fixed upon opposite ends of short axles 121, 121, which rotate freely in hearings. in connection with body-members 122, 122, the said carriage or trolley being entered within the track 11, with the wheels or rollers 120, 120, resting upon and adapted to travel along the inturned flanges, as shown.

VV'th the carriage or trolley 12 is combined the blower by means of which a current of air is sent toward the yarns or threads 1 and the various machine parts at of the carriage or trolley 12, the bail or yoke being fixedly attached to the stud or pin 15 by means of the clamping screw 16.

The means employed in accordance with the present invention to traverse the blower across the width of the machine, in order to subject all the yarns or threads of the series, spread out thereon, to the action of the blast, comprises an endless cable or belt 17 extending transversely across the series of yarns or threads, in this instance above the said series, and supported by two pulleys 18, 19,

' one at each side of the series, each of which pulleys is mounted on an upright revoluble shaft supported in a bearing in connection with a bracket 100 that is made fast to the upright 10 atone side of the machine. The blower is connected with the cable or belt 17 which parallels the track 11, and is driven by meansof power applied to one, '20, of the said upright shafts. Fig. 1 shows the power-applied to said shaft 20 through'a worm 21 and worm-gear 22, from the driving mechanism of. the machine, the -said wormgear being secured to the lower end of the said upright shaft 20. If preferred,

I however, the shaft 20 and pulley 18 maybe similarly driven. as shown in Fig. 5, from a short jackshaft 40 mounted in a bearing 41 on the adjacent stand 10 and provided with a pieilley 42 to which rotation is imparted by a lt 43 from any desired source of power j outside the machine, as, for example, an overhead shaft (not shown).

Referring to the feature of providing for shifting the blower manually so as to expose to inspection and convenient access the yarns'or threads which at any timemay be underneath the same, as for instance in the posit-ion in which it stands when the machine is at rest, this manual shifting may be effected. bytaking hold of the endless cable or belt and causing it to slip around the pulleys 18, 19, taking the blower with it, in one direction or the other as the case may be. Preferably, however, in order to render it unnecessary, ordinarily, to shift the cab-1e or belt itself, we employ a connection between the cable or belt and the blower enabling the blower to be shifted to a. convenient extent without movement imparted to the cable or belt. In the present embodiment we employ a link consistlng of a flexible connection 24 which may be formed of a piece of material like the cable or belt 17, one end of such link being connected to the blower, as by the ring 250 fitting loosely around the downwardly projecting stud or pin 15, the other end of the link being engaged with some point in the length of the cable or belt 17. By means of this flexible connecting link 24 the car riage and blower are towed back and forth along the track 11, traversing the width of a the machine, merely pausing for a moment at each end of its traverse while the end of the flexible connection 24 which is fixed to the cable or belt 17 makes the turn around either of the pulleys 18, 19, in company with such cable, and resumes its traverse in the opposite direction as soon as the slack in the connection 24 is taken up by reason of the continuous travel of the cable 17.

A drawback about the traversing means hitherto employed for traversing the blower across the width of the machine has been that the blower itself has often chanced to stop in such position as to obstruct the work of the attendant of the machine in working upon the yarns, as for the purpose of piecing up broken yarns or threads. The positive connection of the blower with its traversing means in such cases required restarting of the machine to shift the blower out of the attendants way, which'restai'ting has often been undesirable until after the work of the attendant should have been completed. In the present embodiment, in case the machine should be brought torest with the blower in the way of the attendant, the carriage and blower may be easily pushed by hand on beyond the point at which they come to rest, to an extent corresponding with the length of the flexible connection 24, without moving the cable or belt. Various mechanical substitutes may take connection 24.

As in the Letters Patent aforesaid, to in.- crease the effectiveness of the clearing action of the blast, the blower shown in the drawings is contrived to oscillate in a fore-andtheplace of the flexible aft direction, parallel to the length of the yarns'l, at the same time that it is traversed across the width of the machine. The provision for such swinging motion is made by providing journals 25, 25, on the casing of the electric fan 13 and mounting them to turn in hearings in connection with the arms of the bail or yoke 14. In this instance, well-known devices are shown for oscillating the fan on its journals automatically, such devices comprising a jackshaft 26 geardriven by the main fan-shaft and extending outwardly from the fan-casing, and having fixed upon its outer end the disk or plate 27, and a link 29 coupled at one of its ends to a crank-pin 28 borne by the disk 27 and at its other end to a pivot-pin 30 formed upon a suitable member fixed upon the bail or yoke 14, such as an L-headed pin 31 having the attaching portion thereof driven into a hole provided for it in one arm of the bail or yoke. When the fan rotates, the jackshaft 26 rotates also, moving the crank-pin 28 in a circular path with respect to said jackshaft. As the link 29 is pivoted at one end to a member that is fixed with respect to the bail 14., and cannot move in the direction of its length, the travel of the crankpin 28 to which the other end of said link is attached serves to turn the fan back and forth upon its journals 25, 25, and thus to traced. A suitable switch is provided for controlling the electric current which drives the fan. In this instance, such switch is indicated at 33, Fig. 1, located at the bottom of one end of the machine. The plunger 330' of the machine, so that the current of air is directed progressively to. the whole width of the series of yarns or threads.

What is claimed as the invention is 1. Thecombination with means for guiding and feeding a series of yarns or threads side by side, of a track extending transversely across the width of the said series, a blower mounted upon the said track and movable-lengthwise of the latter, and means for moving the blower across the series of yarns or threads comprising a travelling endless cable or belt paralleling said track and operatively connected with the said blower, and supporting pulleys for said cable or belt located at opposite ends of the track.

2. The combination with means for guidmovable lengthwise of the latter, and means for moving the blower across the series of yarns or threads comprising a travelling.

endless cable or belt paralleling said track and operatively connected with the said blower, and supporting pulleys for said cable or belt located at opposite ends of the track, said belt adapted to slip around said pulleys to permit manual shift of the blower relative to yarns or threads below the same.

3. In warping machi nes and the like, ,a blower, a carriage therefor, a track upon which said carriage is movable, an endless' belt paralleling said track, and connecting means causing the blower to follow the beltback and .forth across the machine, said connecting means permitting a limited amountof manual shifting of the position of the blower along the track independently of the belt.

4. In warping machines and the like, in

combination, a blower mounted for travers ing movement across the machine, an endless belt, means for driving the same and a flexible connecting link between the blower and the endless belt to cause the blower to move in unison with the belt, said link permitting manual. adjustment of the blower without movement of the belt.

MARSHALL F. CUMMINGS. NATHAN G. LAPHAM. 

